A MOTHER was reduced to tears when a parking warden accused her of trying to “dodge” paying for a 70p parking ticket.

Martine McNamara, from Oakes, has been ordered to pay a £25 fine by parking company APCOA after a mix-up at a car park in town on Friday.

The mother-of-two parked her blue Fiat Punto at Wilkinson’s car park off Alfred Street at 8.45am and bought a ticket from the APCOA machine for one hour’s parking.

She returned within the allotted time but a parking warden was waiting for her and issued her with a fine.

Martine, 35, told the Examiner: “He then proceeded to tell me I hadn’t bought a ticket.

“I asked him what he was talking about as the ticket was quite clearly displayed on my dashboard.

“But he told me it was the wrong ticket. I had no idea what he was talking about because I had got the ticket out of the APCOA machine and paid the money – so how could it be the wrong one?”

Even though Martine told the parking warden she had picked the ticket out of the dispenser on the car park’s ticket machine, and it clearly showed the date and time she had arrived, he still issued her with a fine.

Martine suspects the machine failed to print the ticket properly – even though it does have the date and time.

Martine phoned her husband Sean, who works for Perrys car company, in floods of tears.

She said: “The warden said I should have checked but to be honest if I go to a machine and put my money in and take a ticket I trust that the machine will give me the right ticket.

“How am I meant to know what every different parking ticket is supposed to look like?

“I couldn’t believe he was accusing me of trying to con him. I have never conned anything in my life.

“I was really upset. I’ve only been driving for a few months and I wanted to do everything right and proper.

“He said he was just doing his job and that I’d have to call up the company about it.

“But why should I have to sort it all out when it’s not my fault and he shouldn’t have even issued me the ticket in the first place?”

Martine, who is a manager at Jack Pearson bookmakers, said she has written a letter of complaint to APCOA.

She was told that her £25 fine will be reduced to £15 if she pays it within seven days but she refuses to pay at all.

The Examiner contacted the Middlesex parking company for a comment but none was forthcoming.

In August a teenager from Lindley was one of several drivers given a fine by APCOA for parking in the Wilkinson’s car park on a Sunday – when it’s supposed to be free.

After a day’s work at Primark, Victoria Eaton, a colleague and about eight other people returned to their cars to find fines stuck to the windscreen.

A large sign at the entrance of the car park advises motorists of the Monday to Saturday charges, but clearly says Sunday and Bank Holiday parking is free.